Las Vegas Sun

Support Obamacare for help it provides

Donnedia Edmond, Las Vegas

Thu, Apr 5, 2012 (2:01 a.m.)

I am a stage-four metastatic breast cancer patient, diagnosed in December 2008. Following multiple biopsies it was discovered that I needed extensive chemotherapy once a week to fight this disease. I am a 46-year-old with a master’s degree.

After my diagnosis, I could no longer work. I filed for Social Security and began receiving Medicare. The cost of all the treatments was staggering.

Once-a-week chemo treatments for 10 months were followed by a partial lumpectomy. After that surgery, I needed radiation for 10 days, three times a day.

I can honestly say it is thanks to President Barack Obama’s health care reform that I am alive today. Without Obamacare, I never would have been able to afford the treatments that saved my life. It is because of his concern for all citizens in the United States — regardless of race, gender or sexual preference — that I was able to receive the medical care necessary.

As the nation is focused on the constitutionality of this landmark legislation, I wanted to tell my story to make sure Nevadans are aware of the very real lifesaving effects. This isn’t an abstraction happening in Washington; it’s happening here in Nevada and to middle-class families across the country.

This law expanded Medicare and means patients like me will have access to health care in the future, not be turned away for a pre-existing condition. It means I can focus on my fight against this disease, not on where my care will come from.